Friday, July 04, 2014

Today is the day-- a cold and wet and dreary July 4th, when I should be celebrating the birth of our nation by sunning myself and eating hot dogs but am instead huddled indoors catching up on my finances. And because today is the day I decided to pay attention to 6 months' worth of investment transactions, today is the day I became a millionaire. In truth, it probably happened on a different day, but today is the day I first saw it in my net worth report in Quicken:

So I am celebrating financial independence today. Of course, by "financial independence" I don't mean I never have to work again, or that I can stop saving money, or even stop worrying about money. One million dollars is an arbitrary number, but there is something symbolic about it. To me, it symbolizes having succeeded in one of my financial goals, and it means that I'm on the right track. I have about 20 years to go before I hit retirement age, so if I'm lucky enough to keep myself in a good job, keep my expenses in line, stay healthy, and not have any major catastrophes in my personal finances or in the stock market and economy as a whole, I should be able to be financially independent for the rest of my life, in terms of not needing to be a burden on anyone else in my old age.

It looks like the sky is starting to lighten up a bit, so maybe it's finally time to turn off the laptop and start celebrating July 4th in a more typical way! Happy Independence Day, everyone!

You have enough already to support yourself in a comfortable lifestyle, so if you ever find you're not loving what you do - rethink it. There's certainly no law that you have to work 20 more years to "retirement age".

Congratulations! I've followed this blog many years and often wondered when you would finally reach your goal. This is a small victory for all us readers and fans who have followed you. Thanks for sharing your world with us!

About Me

My name is Madame X, and I am a 40-something single woman living in New York's lower Hudson Valley. I write about how much money I make, what I spend it on, how much I save, how I budget, my home-buying experiences, my financial goals and ambitions, my thoughts on class and what it means to be rich or poor, and anything else that relates to money. (More about me here, here, and here.)If you take any of my advice, do so at your own risk as I am not really qualified to give it. If you have advice to share, please do, and many thanks!